Veteran protests shutdown with upside-down flag

4:46 PM,
Oct. 2, 2013

Walter Blanchard, 67, of Stevens Point, stands in his yard in the 2600 block of Dixon Street Wednesday. Blanchard is flying his American flag upside down to protest a government that he says has thrown the country into distress.

Written by

B.C. Kowalski
Gannett Wisconsin Media

The federal government's shutdown was the last straw for Walter Blanchard.

The 67-year-old Vietnam veteran is flying his American flag upside down to signal that the United States is in distress. On Tuesday, employees in scores of government agencies were furloughed after Congress failed to authorize a spending bill as GOP members railed against the Affordable Care Act.

Blanchard, who said he served as a sniper with the Green Berets in Vietnam and served in Korea, said the failure of Congress to work together is one of the reason he's flying his flag upside down, which is the international ...